Hucknall green belt campaigner denied place at local plan meeting by technicallity after 'not objecting'
A leading Hucknall green belt campaigner has been told she can’t attend a major public local plan meeting because she technically ‘hasn’t objected to the proposals’.
Jemma Chambers has been a prominent figure in the fight to save Hucknall’s green belt, notably founding the campaign group Hucknall Against Whyburn Farm Development – which delivered a petition with more than 7,000 signatures against proposals to build 3,000 homes on Whyburn Farm to Ashfield Council back in 2021.
She intitially received an email asking her if she wanted to take part and duly replied saying she did.
She was staggered when she got the reply from the council’s programme officer saying ‘only those persons who have objected to the plan or are seeking to make a change may participate in the hearings’ and ‘it looks like you have not asked to do either, therefore I will have to decline your request to participate’.
However, it subsequently transpired that while Jemma did object to the original local plan, with Whyburn still in, she hasn’t objected to the revised local plan t- with Whyburn removed – hat the council submitted to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for independent examination on back in April, which is what this meeting is about.
As such, the council and planning inspectorate were right to say she hadn’t objected.
But Jemma still feels she should be allowed to attend the meeting as she is so heavilly involved in the cause to protect the town’s green belt.
The meeting is being arranged by Government inspectors, who have now released their examination guidance notes to the council, along with a draft hearings programme and the Inspector's matters, issues and questions
They are now inviting those individuals who submitted comments at the Regulation 19 consultation and who wish to participate in the hearings to confirm they wanted to take part.
Jemma said: “It still blows my mind that I can’t, as it stands, be part of the meeting.
"If the revised plan gets approved and safeguards the majority of the greenbelt in Hucknall, that would be a win for us.
"But I’m annoyed as, being involved from day one and responding to all consultations, to be told I can not longer participate to represent intersted parties in Hucknall isn’t right.”
A council spokesperson said decisions on who attended public examination meetings were down to the planning inspectorate and the council would not be commenting.
They added the programme officer is an independent liaison between the council and the Inspectorate and is only appointed for the examination in public meeting.
Your Dispatch has contacted the Planning Inspectorate for comment.